Process Series debuts and workshops rock banjo opera ‘Sunnyland’

This past weekend in Swain Hall, the rock banjo opera “Sunnyland” performed on a stage for the first time. Stephan John Meyers, or Breadfoot, is the mastermind behind the piece.

“Sunnyland is the story of misunderstood youth,” Meyers said. “The story of Gibson, a misunderstood youth, who leaves the small town where he’s been bullied since before he could see the top of the fridge, to go to the big city to find acceptance and maybe a taste of the big time.”

Two years ago, Meyers received an invitation from Joseph Megel to join the Process Series, whose mission is to feature developing works of performing art and highlight the creative process. Megel said that Meyers’ music comes straight from his head into the story he wants to tell from the inside out.

A major part of the Process Series is after the performance, when Megel opens the floor for questions and comments from the audience to see what they took away from it. 

“The important thing about those discussions, we don’t want the audience rewriting another artist's work,” he said. “But, I think by sharing what they received, it can be very helpful to an artist to know what’s being engaged with and what’s not.”

An audience member, Sadie Maddock, said her favorite part about the performance was the music as a whole. She said it added a unique flair that went along well with the storyline.

“It was hard to not sit in the audience and bop along with it,” she said.

Jade Fielding said their favorite part was the character Rory and her vibe, and also how she narrated the story. They said they enjoyed seeing the audience answer the questions in real time right after the performance.

The cast only rehearsed together a few times before the performances this weekend, which Maddock said she was really impressed by because it was very cohesive. 

Elena Holder, a senior majoring in dramatic art and media and journalism with a concentration in advertising and public relations, played the role of Cassidy as well as various ensemble characters. She said it’s been interesting to work on a show that hasn’t been fully finished yet because of the amount of experimenting she can do.

She said she has loved getting to experiment with Cassidy’s musical numbers. Holder had never sung bluegrass before this performance, so she has enjoyed getting to explore that style of music. 

Another member of the cast, Buck Thornton, is a sophomore majoring in dramatic art and media and journalism. He said his character, Dickie, is a complete contrast to his personality, and it has been fun for him to play a role he typically isn’t cast for.

Thornton said that Dickie is not your typical musical character due to his crass and rude nature, so he was interested to see how the audience would react to such an unruly character. He said his favorite thing about working on “Sunnyland” and with the Process Series is the various kinds of people he gets to work with from all walks of life.

“So I’m working with people that are above the age of 50, people in their thirties and then I’m also working with my friends who I see in drama class,” he said.

Meyers said that in the future, he hopes that “Sunnyland” reaches a big stage, whether that’s regional or all the way to Broadway.

“We take all the smells and the sounds and the feelings and everything from collaborating with all these wonderful people that we're working with this week, digest the feedback that we get from the audience from the chat back, we take a long nap and maybe drink a couple barley pops and go on a few long walks with the puppy girl, my little puppy girl, Shiloh,” he said. “And then, then we go back to the beginning, and we start all over.”

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